


A Rose Between the Years

by BardicRaven



Category: Rose Madder - Stephen King
Genre: Divine Justice, Gen, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, haunted painting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 11:04:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16474346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardicRaven/pseuds/BardicRaven
Summary: He only ever knew her as Rose Madder - and painted her an escape when she had no other.





	A Rose Between the Years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Edonohana](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edonohana/gifts).



He only ever knew her by the name she gave him – Rose Madder – a name so clearly not her own, because really, what parent would saddle their child with such a thing? She’d been fortunate in her face, which is how they met, and far less so in her husband, which is why he ended up painting for her, rather than simply painting her, as had been his original intent when he'd seen her in the market and asked if she would be his model.

When the makeup failed to cover what was happening, and it was obvious that things were not going to get better, he made her the offer – he was a magician, he said, and could give her a way out, if she so wished.

Although there would be a price.

_Anything,_ she said. _For otherwise, I have no place to go where he will not find me._

_Then listen, and listen well,_ he said. _I will paint you a world where you will be safe, and even should he, by some misfortune, be able to find you, he will not be able to hurt you any more._

_And the price?_ she asked.

_Your painting will travel the world, and be found by other women who need it – women who will be as you are – hurt and with no other means of help. They will find their escape in the painting also, and you will help them in your turn._

She stood there, considering for a moment.

_Do you agree?_ he asked.

_Yes,_ she answered.

And it was done.

* * *

 

In the course of time, a lady named Wendy Yarrow. who took the painting-name 'Dorcas' and another, named  also Rose, made their way into the painting, followed by the one who had hurt them both, the latest in a long line of harmed and harmer. They were treated as such – helped and harmed in their turn, and then, when the one woman, the other Rose, prepared to go back instead of staying in the safety of the painted world, she – who only knew herself as Rose Madder now, her birth name having been long-forgotten in the years between and in the surreality that was her reality now – pulled her aside.

_Here,_ she said. _Here are seeds from the tree. Make sure you plant them and tend them well when you return._

_Why?_ the other Rose asked, clearly unwilling to have any reminders, no matter how small, of what had happened to her – her harm and her rescue alike.

_You’ll know. Remember._ With that, Rose Madder was gone and Rose Daniels was back in the everyday world.

She planted the seeds when she needed them, and in the fullness of time, thanked Rose Madder for her wisdom and her kindness. And when, in time, she buried her former husband’s ring within its roots and went back to her home and family, she found that the tree, and Rose Madder, had given her what she’d thought – and feared – she’d never have in this lifetime.

Freedom.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this works foryou. I don't dare come near the source material, so did this story from the FanWiki and the Wikipedia tales of it. But I love your writing enough that I wanted to do this for you, especially when an obliging Muse gave me the kernel of an idea and then the story to follow it.
> 
> So here it is, the product of an intensely-grey Halloween morning.
> 
> ToT Author of Mystery


End file.
